Stephen Johnson

Stephen Johnson

Executive Editor, Big Think

A man with short dark hair wearing a dark button-up shirt poses against a plain black background.

Stephen Johnson is Executive Editor at Big Think. His writing has appeared in PBS, U.S. News & World Report, and newspapers and magazines across the Midwest. He lives in St. Louis.

March 6 marked the 50th successful launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9, which the company plans to soon use to send humans into space.
Since 2016, the exoplanet Proxima b has been a top candidate in the search for alien life. But new findings show that a stellar flare might have scorched that hope entirely.
After examining thousands of diabetes patients, researchers in Finland and Sweden identified five distinct categories of diabetes.
In a state-of-the-nation speech just weeks before Russia’s presidential election, President Vladimir Putin claimed his country had two new nuclear-powered weapons systems.
The findings could help medical professionals better determine the official time of brain death, and might have implications on the protocols for organ donation.
The American public is split on whether to provide a “safety net” to workers displaced by advancements in artificial intelligence.
Warren Buffett’s letter to shareholders for 2017 contains valuable insights into recent market activity, and also explains how he won a 10-year bet with Wall Street.
The FCC is scheduled to repeal net neutral on April 23, but Democrats still have a long-shot chance of turning things around.
A report from the World Health Organization shows that the European region experienced about 16,000 measles cases in 2017, representing a four-fold increase from the previous year.
Survivors of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida are demanding that lawmakers in Washington take action on gun control measures.
In 2017, renewable energies accounted for 18 percent of the total power contributed to the electrical grid in the U.S. – the highest level ever.
The launch of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy was widely covered by the media, but one astrophotographer wanted a different kind of shot of the Tesla Roadster tumbling through space.
Miles away from the site of the site of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea, eight teams raced skiing robots down a mountain for a chance to win $10,000.
A transgender woman was able to breastfeed her baby after completing an experimental treatment regimen, but it’s still not clear what the effects of the breastmilk might have on the child.    
U.S. drivers faced a 12% greater risk of dying in a car crash on April 20 over the past 25 years. The likely explanation? High drivers.
For the first time in Facebook's history, the number of daily active users in the U.S. dropped—by about 700,000.
SpaceX made history Tuesday after successfully launching its Falcon Heavy rocket into space, but not all are convinced any of that actually happened.
Each year since 2010, thousands of parents submit photos of their children for consideration in Gerber's "Spokesbaby" contest. This year the winner made history.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is encouraging aerospace companies to up their game after successfully launching the most powerful rocket since NASA's Saturn V.
Environmental concerns have caused some to opt-out of reproduction, both to help the planet and to protect their would-be children.